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Your final paper should do one of three things:
Your topic must be approved by me. The paper should use one or more of the analytical approaches considered in the course: of course use of eforensics is desirable. Your paper should feature your original analysis of some kind of data; the data may be data I already have. This will usually be low aggregation unit data (e.g. precinct data) you use in a statistical analysis using eforensics. I strongly encourage you to talk to me either in person or via email to discuss ideas for the paper. Making an early start is a good idea.
To get approval for a topic, you must submit a 1–3 page proposal for the paper. The proposal should summarize the argument you expect to make (e.g., what is the principal hypothesis) and give some indication of the data you expect to use to build evidence for your argument. It should also identify relevant literature—at least two academic research articles or books that are closely related to your topic. Postelection observation reports count for this purpose. As much as possible you should explain clearly how the data you plan to examine will be sufficient for your analysis. If I haven't approved your proposal, I won't accept your paper. The proposal is due by noon on Friday, November 20 (I'll also accept it earlier). Note that the class of November 18 is planned to be devoted to project work, but it's better if you don't wait until then to start deciding on a topic and looking for data.
The paper itself should run about 10 pages (double-spaced) and is due (by email or via Canvas) at 11:30pm on Friday, December 11. Both the proposal and the paper should use normal scholarly apparatus for footnotes, citations, bibliography and any tables or figures.
When you submit your proposal or your paper, please submit it in pdf format.
Walter Mebane